The sea in every step along a west Scottish beach stores enough energy for over 70 homes, estimates Richard Yemm, who has taken wave power closer to reality than anybody so far. Three of his snake-like Pelamis machines, rated at 0.75 MW each, began pumping power off Portugal last fall, enhancing the technology’s commercial credibility.
![Linked units ride waves, gathering energy from large areas of water.](/images2/2009/01/090107-55b.jpg)
Moored 5 kilometers off Aguçadoura, the $13-million installation is unprecedented in having several units and represents the world’s first wave device commercial sale, claims Edinburgh-based Pelamis Wave Power Ltd., where Yemm is founder and chief technical officer. As big as a four-car train, each Pelamis rides the waves, hydraulically converting the hinging motion into electricity.
![headshot](/images2/2009/01/090107-54c.jpg)
Mechanical engineer founded firm that developed articulated device, the first to commercially generate power from waves.
PWP holds 23% of the venture that launched the development. That Portugal’s financial support for renewables makes it, not Scotland, host to Pelamis saddens Yemm, who describes the device as a “unique marriage of survivability and power-capture efficiency.”